Hi. Welcome to Epiblast! The name is partly inspired by PZ Myers famous blog, Pharyngula partly by the fact that the epiblast, a simple tissue in a developing embryo (labelled 5), gives rise, eventually, to virtually everything inside our body. It's a metaphor for how some of our simple, fundamental ideas vastly affect the other aspects of our life. This blog covers my interests; usually science, medicine, atheism, religion. I might sneak in a bit of philosophy or magic if I feel like it. I warn you, the discussion gets uncomfortable and I come to conclusions which are unconventional, maybe contradictory to yours. Don't go crying to someone if you are offended.

I have been talking to people, sharing with me the kind of miracles they've had in their life and how that proves god is real and loves them and what not. They were talking from their gut of course and I have trouble responding to that (intellectual responses don't work here). I was reading "Atheist Universe" by David Mills and came across this segment which touched my heart (and would touch the hearts of adolescent males across the universe).

Moreover, the "miraculous" event, even though positive, willlose its holy luster if the event is perceived to conflict with "God's will" or with the Ten Commandments. When I was a teenager, for example, I frequently rode my bicycle around the neighborhood. One evening, I rode past the home of a girl with whom 1 went tohigh school. All of the boys at school, including me, thought thatthis girl was exceptionally attractive. As I pedaled past, I glancedover for a split second at the girl's house. And at that preciseinstant, she walked by her bedroom window topless, wearing onlyher panties!As you might imagine, I, as a teenage boy, regarded this eventas more historically significant than World War II and the MoonLanding put together. I couldn't believe my incredible good luck!"What were the odds," I kept asking myself, "that I would glancein her window at the exact moment that she scurried past topless?"My titillating peek defied all laws of probability. As I pedaledback home, I said aloud "There must be a God. There must bea God." When I boasted to the boys at school about my delightfulvoyeuristic experience, few of them believed me. It all sounded sounlikely and just "too good to be true."I'm willing to bet that, under absolutely no circumstances,would the Vatican ever declare my cheap, teenage thrill to be anofficially recognized miracle of the Catholic Church. No religiouspilgrims will ever retrace my bicycle journey in hope of beingblessed by the same miraculous vision that I beheld years earlier.Even though my prurient glimpse, like a miracle, was highlyunlikely statistically and, like a miracle, was quite positive (in my opinion), no religious leader would consider the event miraculousbecause God is allegedly opposed to ogling our neighbors' breasts.In other words, our perception of what is, and what is not, aDivine "miracle" is prejudicially determined by what we alreadybelieve about God's nature. Witnessing "miracles" therefore does not evoke belief in God. Rather, belief in God evokes the witnessingof "miracles."